myki – the smartcard dubbed to put an end to confusion for ticketing in Victoria, Australia. No longer are you to worry about zones, times or fares. No longer are you to worry about losing your ticket. No longer are you to use the old Metcard system, which is arguably falling apart due to its age. For a card that promised so much, what went wrong?
I had a few issues with the system when it was launched – mainly with the cards, having them issued incorrectly a few times, and then having issues with my disabled brother – whom customer service demanded we put on the phone, even though he cannot walk let alone talk. However, I felt these issues were quickly ironed out, and whilst there are still some slight issues to date, the Twitter feed and general feeling in the public is vastly more negative.
Whilst, in my opinion, most of the comments I have heard from the public regarding myki in a negative way, are completely unfounded, I don’t entirely blame the public either. There is one fundamental issue with myki that cannot be resolved – and that is it’s launch.
If you’re not already aware of what occurred, I’ll put into simple terms. The government was told myki would be ready by a certain date, the government eagerly promised it would, and when it wasn’t the government was forced to launch myki at the last minute, meaning that many of the kinks were not ironed out and it’s release would be limited to the metropolitan train system.
This, together with original errors in distributing the correct myki cards, essentially gave a bad taste to the few who were early adopters, and this opinion quickly flowed through to the public, the media, and the opposition. And, whilst the issues have now been resolved, and the myki system on the metropolitan train network is reliable, the opinion has stuck in the minds of too many Victorians.
Just read a few Twitter tweets, and you’ll understand. Every day I read comments about myki being slow to use. However, on most occasions, it is to be found out later that these people are relying on the information being provided by the media, or by their early experiences. And, the claims that myki is heavily out of budget, whereas no understanding that myki had only been granted a further $350 million funding to upgrade the cards memory, and the infrastructure on the new trams and buses that had been purchased.
So, what isn’t the mainstream media and the opposition telling you? If you’ve had issues with myki on the barriers, don’t stress. These barriers have been modified temporarily for myki, and will be completely replaced with brand new myki barriers. This should occur closer to the Metcard removal. Trams, and buses? There appears to be a few issues with touching off and the system detecting the correct zone, however as many have been reporting, these issues are nearly resolved.
I’d love to hear your opinion too. And remember, I know that myki isn’t perfect for everyone. If you’ve tried myki recently, and have an issue with it, I’d love to hear from you. If I can help you out, I will. If I can’t, I’m not going to deny your problems exist.
Tags: Buses, Melbourne, Metcard, myki, Public Transport, Ticketing, Trains, Trams, Transport, Victoria
I use Myki regularly in Melbourne – almost exclusively on trains, and most of the time on trams. The only issues I have had with the system is, as you mentioned, the speed of the barriers at train stations, although it seems like some of the readers are faster than others; I’ve heard that some have been given software updates to fix the speed issues.
The system, as a concept, and as an implementation 90% of the time? Brilliant. I just get the feeling that they’re trying to iron out all the teething problems before formally rolling out Myki across other modes of transport so there’s no further backlash.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by themykiuser. themykiuser said: RT @MiCCAS: New blog post: Is myki really that bad? http://www.michaelcasha.com/blog/2010/07/is-myki-really-that-bad/ [...]
Thanks for your comments Ben.
You’re right – there was a period of time where some myki readers were exceptionally fast, and some that were too slow. I have experienced mostly fast readers recently, so hopefully they’re onto the issue!
It does make me wonder why they don’t install some myki barriers, but I’m not aware of the Metcard infrastructure to comment on their reasoning. It sounds silly though, to say that the new barriers won’t be installed until Metcard is phased out – how else will they enthuse users to try out the system without issues?
I’m glad you commented regarding trams. It’s somewhere I haven’t been using my myki, so I’d be interested in hear of your experiences further in regards to trams.
And yes, I completely agree with your last comment. And they would be silly not to iron out all of the problems first. It’s something they should have done in the beginning though, if I’m not mistaken.